Intro LCA

Question 1

What are the phases of the LCA?

Answer 1

Goal & Scope
Inventory Analysis
Impact Assessment
Interpretation

Question 2

What are examples of inputs?

Answer 2

Land, crude oil, water, wood, etc.

Question 3

What are examples of outputs?

Answer 3

CO2, pesticides, waste, etc.

Question 4

What are examples of midpoints?

Answer 4

Climate change
photochemical oxidation 
ozone depletion
acidification
eutrophication
human toxicity
eco toxicity
water use 
land use
resource use.

Question 5

What is the definition of a midpoint?

Answer 5

Problems

Methodological tool used for decision making, quantifies potential environmental impacts

Question 6

What are examples of endpoints?

Answer 6

Human health
Ecosystem quality
Resources and ecosystem services

Question 7

What is the definition of an endpoint?

Answer 7

Damages on areas of protection

Methodological tool used for decision making, quantifies potential environmental impacts

Question 8

What is the Goal definition?

Answer 8

Intended Application (ex. product dev and improvement, etc.)
Reasons for carrying out the study
Intended audience

Question 9

What is the Scope definition?

Answer 9

Function, functional unit, and reference flow
Initial choices (system boundaries, data quality) 
Critical review and other procedural aspects

Question 10

Define function and its importance?

Answer 10

What the object is used for
Primary vs. Secondary functions
For a comparison, both systems must have the same function

Question 11

Define functional unit?

Answer 11

Quantitative description of the function or service for which the assessment is performed, and the basis of determining the reference flow of product that scales the data collection in the next LCA phase, the inventory analysis.

Ex. Wear a pair of jeans every day for 5 years in India

Question 12

What is the definition of an elementary flow?

Answer 12

Linking unit processes with the environment

Question 13

What is the definition of an intermediary flow?

Answer 13

Linking unit processes to each other

Question 14

What is the definition of an economical flow?

Answer 14

Man-made

Question 15

What are the rules of system boundaries?

Answer 15

1. Compared systems must provide the same function
2. Identical stages/processes between compared systems can be excluded ONLY IF this does not affect their functional equivalence
3. Include processes that meet a chosen cut-off criteria

Question 16

How do you define the system boundaries?

Answer 16

Selecting the geographical and temporal boundaries and settings of the study
and the level of technology that is relevant for the processes in the product
system.

Question 17

What is the inventory analysis? What is its purpose?

Answer 17

The inventory analysis collects information about the physical flows in terms of input of resources, materials, semi-products and products and the output of emissions, waste and valuable products for the product system.

The outcome of inventory analysis is the life cycle inventory

Question 18

What is the first step of impact assessment?

Answer 18

Selection:
Select impact categories representative of the assessment/key parameters that were chosen as a part of the scope definition.

Question 19

What is the second step of impact assessment?

Answer 19

Classification:
Assign elementary flows from the inventory to impact categories according to their ability to contribute by impacting the chosen indicator

Question 20

What is the third step of impact assessment?

Answer 20

Characterization:
Using environmental models for the impact category to quantify the ability of each of the assigned elementary flows to impact the indicator of the category.

Impact scores are a common metric for impact category.

Question 21

What is the fourth step of impact assessment?

Answer 21

Normalization:
Used to inform about the relative magnitude of each of the characterized scores for the different impact categories by expressing them relative to a common set of reference impact (one ref impact per impact category)

Question 22

What is the fourth step of impact assessment?

Answer 22

Grouping/Weighting:
Supports comparison across the impact categories by grouping and possibly ranking them according to their perceived severity, or by weighting them using weighting factors that for each impact category gives a quantitative expression of how sever it is relative to other impact categories.

Allows you to get one overall impact score for the product systems

Question 23

What are the components of interpretation?

Answer 23

Identify significant issues
Evaluate study for completeness, consistency, sensitivity
Conclusions, recommendations

Question 24

What are the limits of LCA?

Answer 24

The assessed impacts are the POTENTIAL impacts, not real impacts (exceeding of thresholds, safety margins or risks)

This is due to:

• Relative expression of impact scores related to a reference unit
• Integration of environmental data over space and time
• Inherent uncertainty in modelling of impacts

Not all processes or flows are modelled (or have unrepresentative data)

Question 25

What are the benefits of LCA?

Answer 25

Public Policy Making
Reaching objectives Kyoto protocol
Possibility for ecolabelling or environmental product declaration